Mercury-vapor apparatus.



J. R. BAKER.

MERCURY VAPOR APPARATUS.

APPLICATION II LED APR. 10, 1912.

Patented Mar. 24, 1914.

ATTORHEF'E u TED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES R. BAKER, OF ARLINGTON, NEW JERSEY,-ASSIGNOR TO COOPER HEWITT ELECTRIC C0,, OF HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY, AQCORPQRA'IION OF NEW JERSEY.

MERCURYFVAPOR APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Bun- 24, 1914 Application filed April 10, 1912. Serial No. 689,802.

the material is vaporized and thrown off into Phe desired altered condition of the T ll h it w I the lamp, causing a blackening of other- Be it known that I, JAMES R. BAKER, a parts of the container and also in some cases citizen of the United States, and resident of remo ing material from the point where it' Arlington, county of Hudson, State of New is required for starting purposes. This difii- Jersey, have invented certain new and useculty has been avoided by locating the ad 30 ful Improvements in Mercury-Vapor Appaherent 'material at a point not naturally ratus, of which the following is a specificavisited by the normal running current. tion, Such an arrangement is shown in applica- One broad method widely used in comtion Serial Number 453,186, filed September mercial work for starting mercury vapor 15th, 1908. With carborundum, however, 5 apparatus is the use of a starting band on the action is extremely advantageous, for high potential. This is normally very satisthe normal operating current does not settle factory but in certain cases, notably in-a at the surfa e f th ar or ndum n r is very clean or a very cold lamp, an inconthere any tendency for this material to be, veniently high potential is required. This thrown into the V por space. The carboapplies also to alternating current lamps rundum may thus be located in any convenwhere the initial storage of energy in the ient location. choke coils is not quite as easy on account of One convenient method of causing adher the high impedance of these coils to the inience between the carborundum and the glass tial alternating current. It was found someis by spreading the crushed ca rborlfmdum on 78 time ago that if the surface of the inside of the surface of the glassand heating the the glass at the level of the cathode were glass to the softening point,.after,which the altered in such a way as to change the menisparticles of the carborundum will remain cus of the mercury, so as to make it more fixed in position. r nearly flat and less round, the starting was It is not necessary that the carborundum so much easier. This, for example, was accomform a circuit around the entire surface of plishedin the Recklinghausen Patent No. the cathode but it may cover a very small 750,891, dated February 2nd, 1904:, by the portion, though a few millimeters will be burning in of platinum on the inside of the sufficient. In practice, however, I prefer to. glass. Other expedients have been, for exuse a somewhat longer exposure of the apam plc, the use of titanium nitrid instead of propriate surface. 1 platinum. In the present invention appli- I have illustratedmy invention in the accant makes use of a different material, companying drawings in which-- namely, car-borundum, to serve this purpose. Figure 1 is a vertical section of a gas or In the practical embodiment of the appavapor electric lamp of the character deratus, convenient-sized crystals of carbo scribed; andFig. 2 is a-plan view thereof, rundum, preferably powdered, are made to partly in section. adhere to the surface of the glass and some- In the drawings I have shown such a lamp what beyond the surface of the cathode, consisting of a tube or container, 1, proandthis is found to affect the meniscus in vided at one end with a positive electrode, 2, the desired manner and will facilitate the of iron, a cathode, of mercury or other starting of the lamp to quite a marked desuitable liquid, at the opposite end, said gree. It is sometimes of advantage to conelectrodes being connected to r a suitable struct this lamp in such a way-that the our source of current (not. shown) by means of rent will come in contact with the carborunleading-in-conductors, 4 and 5. The usual dum before the lamp is sealed from the starting band located on the outside of the pump. This material is of further advantube in proximity to the cathode isv shown tage in that it avoids a difliculty that has at (l and is connected by'a wire 7,. with the been found with other methods of obtaining leading-in conductor 4, of the positive electhe same general result. If the 'mercury trode 2. Acoating of carborundum here a'pwets the material used on the inside of the pearingas a short strip is show-n at 8, 'atglass too freely, the current has a tendency tached to the inside wall of the container in to settle at the point of contact between the the neighborhood ofthe cathode and extendmercury and the substance, in which case ing slightly beyond the edge thereof.

meniscus of the cathode due to its impinging on the jagged surface of the carborundum strip, is shown at 9.

It is known that apparatus constructed on the principle of the Cooper Hewitt lamp may be utilized for other purposes than that,

of illumination, while at the same time such apparatus is subject in a general way to the same laws as the lamp itself. For example, it may require starting devices,and accordingly my present invention is applicable not only to gas or vapor electric lamps, but

' broadly to apparatus of this character Whether usedas a lamp or not.

I claim as my invention: A 1. An electrode for vapor electric apparatus consisting of a quantity of mercury and a body of non-metallic granular material wetted thereby penetrating the meniscus of the mercury.

2. An electrode for vapor electric apparatus consisting of'a quantity of mercury; and a body of non-metallic granular ma' terial dividing the meniscus of the mercury at its edge. I v

3. An electrode for vapor electric apparatus consisting of a quantity of mercury and .a body of non-metallic granular material interrupting the normal continuity of the mercury meniscus.

4:. An electrode for vapor electric apparatus consisting of a quantity of mercury and a body of non-metallic granular material interrupting at its edge the normal continuity of the mercury meniscus.

5. An electrode for vapor electric apparatus consisting of a quantity of mercury and a body of non-metallic granular ma terial wetted thereby dividing the meniscus ofthe mercury.

6. An electrode for. vapor electric app'aratus consisting of a quantity of mercury and a body of non-metallic granular mater al wetted thereby dividing the meniscus of the mercury into sections.

. and a body of non-metallic granular ma 7. An electrode for vapor electric ap paratus consisting of a quantity of mercury terial wetted thereby dividing the meniscus of the mercury into sections at its edge.

8. An electrode for vapor electric apparatus consisting of a quantity of mercury and a body of carborundum penetrating the meniscus of the mercury.

9. An electrode for vapor electric apparatus consisting of a quantity of mercury and a body of carborundum dividing the meniscus of the. mercury at its edge.

10. An electrode for vapor electric apparatus consisting of a quantity of mercury and a body of carborundum dividing the meniscus of the mercury at its edge into sections.

11. In a vapor electric apparatus, a starting material therein consisting of a body of carborundum in contact with the negative electrode of the apparatus.

12. In gas or vapor electric apparatus, a starting material consisting of a body of carborundum attached to the container and in Contact with the negative electrode of the apparatus.

13. In a gas or vapor electric apparatus, a starting material consisting of a body of carborundum in contact with and projecting beyond the edge of the negativeelectrodc of the apparatus.

1.4:. In a. gas or -vapor electric apparatus, a starting material therein consisting of a. body of carborundum attached to the container and in contact with and projecting beyond the edge of the negative electrode of the apparatus.

' Signed at New York in the county of New York and State of New York this 8th day of April A. D. 1912.

J ALTES R. BAKER. Witnesses \VM. H. Caren, Tnos. Hy BROWN.

Copiea'oi this patent may be obtained for five cents each, hy addressine; the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

